1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portrait photography camera and method, more particularly to a portrait photography camera and method easily capable of making a portrait such that the image of a human head is shown in a desired manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A driver's license or a passport is issued to an applicant only after attachment of his or her portrait photograph. The portrait shows the applicant's facial appearance and is used for visually identifying an owner of the license or passport as the applicant. It is usual to attach portrait photographs to the licenses, passport, or any other article or document which it is intended will exhibit recorded data needing to be safeguarded against unlawful alteration. There are generally used cameras designed for taking such ID portraits.
When the ID portrait camera is an instant camera, instant film units are used. On the photograph made from an instant film unit, the reproduced size of the head is dependent only on the magnification. An ID portrait camera can also be a camera for use with negative film, which is exposed, developed and printed. If the negative film is subjected to contact printing, the reproduced size of the head is dependent not only on the photographic magnification but also on the magnification during printing. With either camera, a photographer aims at the person's face through a viewfinder, confirms the apparent size of the person's head while determining the subject distance by manual adjustment during observation, and photographs the image. The size of the photograph is regulated by using a cutter for cutting margins of the portrait, so as to obtain the ID portrait of a predetermined size appropriate to the particular format designed by the issuer of the ID.
However, as a practical matter, human head images on ID portraits vary in size. The use of portraits on ID articles such as passports, in which the portraits need to be carefully safeguarded against unlawful alteration, requires a more exact regulation of the image size. The image of the head should be desirably sized in the portrait, namely according to an exact composition. Let A be the width of the margin between the top of the image of the head and the upper edge of the portrait. Let B be the vertical extent of the head image, and let C be the horizontal distance between the center of the head image and the left edge of the portrait (see FIG. 4). The dimensions A, B and C are to fall within respective acceptable ranges, from AMIN to AMAX, from BMIN to BMAX, and from CMIN to CMAX.
However, it is extremely difficult with the conventional ID portrait cameras to make a portrait of a human head even within an acceptable range because the apparent size of the head and the subject distance are determined only by manual adjustment during observation. It is more difficult to reproduce the image of a head in the designated layout or composition only by adjusting the orientation of the camera manually.